No abstract

Control of robot arms is often required in engineering and can be performed by using different methods. This study examined and symmetrically compared the use of a controller, eye gaze tracker and a combination thereof in a multimodal setup for control of a robot arm. Tasks of different complexities were defined and twenty participants completed an experiment using these interaction modalities to solve the tasks. More specifically, there were three tasks: the first was to navigate a chess piece from a square to another pre-specified square; the second was the same as the first task, but required more moves to complete; and the third task was to move multiple pieces to reach a solution to a pre-defined arrangement of the pieces. Further, while gaze control has the potential to be more intuitive than a hand controller, it suffers from limitations with regard to spatial accuracy and target selection. The multimodal setup aimed to mitigate the weaknesses of the eye gaze tracker, creating a superior system without simply relying on the controller. The experiment shows that the multimodal setup improves performance over the eye gaze tracker alone ( p < 0.05 ) and was competitive with the controller only setup, although did not outperform it ( p > 0.05 ).

No abstract

When a young adult develops a substance use disorder (SUD), a parent often assumes a caregiving role, and experiences burdens associated with this off-time life event (Kaur et al., 2018). Mothers and children reciprocally influence one another's emotional processes, impacting proximal process (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998). The study purpose was to develop a theory of mothers' experiences of having a young adult child with a SUD. We conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with mothers who sought support from an online forum for parents of individuals with a SUD. We analyzed responses using Strauss and Corbin's (1990) grounded theory and identified three core categories that focused on participants' shift from approaching their child from a stance of anxiety and attempts to control their substance use, to anger, and, finally, acceptance of their loved one's autonomy. Findings imply the importance of mothers' treatment involvement, and specialized services for mothers.